Suplly chain management in public hospitals and a sample application

Whether it is an enterprise of manufacture, or commerce or service, all enterprises need supply activities in order to survive. Good operation of supply function depends on establishment of an appropriate supply chain structure and well management of this chain. The term supply chain does not only mean moving products from one place to another, but also flow of information and money.Hospital can briefly be defined as organizations where patients and injured and those who doubt their health are observed, diagnosed, treated and rehabilitated. Most serious inputs for hospitals to provide these services are manpower and medical supplies. The importance of supplying these inputs in right time, right place, for right price and in right quality can clearly be understood considering the urgency of health services the impossibility of compensation of pain and sorrow resulting from failure of appropriate service which can only be possible with a well-structured supply chain management.In the first section of this study, the concept of supply chain, supply chain structure and models are emphasized and the factors affecting the supply chain performance are explained.In the second section, supply chain management and factors affecting its development, criteria of performance and advantages and disadvantages of SCM for enterprises are explained and the points for the enterprises to be taken into consideration in supplier selection are stressed. Moreover, information technologies used in SCM and their significance are clarified.In the third section, basic characteristics of health services and hospitals and their structures and supply chain management functions in hospitals are expressed in order to clarify the importance of supply chain management for hospitals.In the fourth section, application of SCM in a public hospital within the framework of law and problems in this application are analyzed.Key Worlds: Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management, Health Service, Hospital.